My Current Approach To Fiction Research
I’ve settled into the habit of writing about fiction on a Friday, and I’ll continue that today.
This article is about getting you (or, me) from knowing nothing about a genre, or even fiction writing in general, to the point where you feasibly might know how to write books in that genre. At the very least, this article will help you write a single book of varying quality depending on your aptitude (I’m not Dickens) and it’ll be complete overkill for short stories.
The approach is twofold, but before I get into that, let’s talk about a problem most people have with fiction.
I Can’t Write Fiction… I Don’t Know What To Write
People by and large are under the impression that other people either have a talent for creating stories or they don’t. I think that a lot of this is down to language; we use our native tongue every day, and we find it difficult to conceive of it as a tool because it is so omnipresent.
That’s all psychobabble. I’ll keep it simple. When you were five years old, chances are you were terrible at maths. You could maybe do some addition, and the geniuses among you could probably do some multiplication, but you probably didn’t know what that was.
Over the years, you’ll have gotten comfortable with mathematics to some extent. It might be that you’re a budding engineer or it might be that you can work out which product is cheaper at the supermarket, but intuitively and not-so intuitively, you’ve grown accustomed to using mathematics to the level at which you need to in your life.
If I told you that I needed you to do some trigonometry or algebra outside of your level, you’d tell me, “I can’t do that.”
Now, a key thing here is that there’s no accounting for talent at the task; it’s about not learning the correct stuff or not remembering it.
Enter fiction writing.
People go through the exact same process with language as they do with maths. They’ll learn to use language to a level appropriate to their lifestyle. Some people can scrawl their signature and maybe a note to their spouse about remembering to get some milk and not much else. Some people, on the other hand, write post-modern poetry for fun.
If I told someone who doesn’t write to write me a story, they’d behave differently to the algebra question though. They’d say they didn’t have the talent. Or something similar, as though fiction writing is a magic gift bestowed upon lucky people by gods.
However, just like algebra, you can learn the skill of fiction writing. (That’s not to discount the possibility of errant gods blessing us with fictional prowess.)
Just like algebra, fiction writing is a case of exposure to correct formulas and being able to apply said formulas in your own work.
Those are the two things you need to do.
Like a true maniac, my suggestions are going to be extreme. If you only want to write a single book to say you’ve done it or you’re looking to have fun, then take my suggestions and turn them down as you desire.
Pre-Requisite: Pick A Genre
Some people write esoteric, out-of-the-box things. Like James Joyce. Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake are strange epics that are unlike any sort of genre fiction. Can you write that? Yes, although I wouldn’t.
However, when it comes to learning about writing fiction, my advice is: Don’t start there.
It’s like trying to understand algebra by starting with a dense academic book.
Instead, what you need to do is pick a genre. I suggest crime or romance books. The reason for these genres is that they tend to be incredibly formulaic. That’s a good thing.
Storytelling has evolved over many, many years. The various different plots and main arcs have long since been discovered and utilised. Unless you’re aiming at some version of academic/post-modern strangeness, chances are the plots you think of in your mind have all been discovered. That’s not a bad thing, and it doesn’t mean you’re destined to write pastiches forever. It just means that you’re going to be writing your own unique version of mythologies that appeal to your fellow man.
Pick a genre that’s formulaic and preferably one you’re going to write fiction in. We’re going to be doing a lot of reading, so pick one you like.
Read A Ton Of Genre Novels
If you have Kindle Unlimited, this is easy. If you have access to a charity shop or library, it’s also easy. If not – work something out, because we’re going to read a lot of books.
If you read fifty pages a day, you can get through a novel in less than a week.
I was going to give a big number – say, 100 novels – but I don’t want to put people off and the number is irrelevant.
Read and make notes. Here are my guidelines for this stage:
- Read quickly.
- You’re trying to get an overall “feel” for the genre, particularly in regards to the structure, character archetypes and the like.
- Extraneous details are irrelevant and you don’t need to remember them or pay them any attention.
- Setting and other things like that are also irrelevant at this stage.
Essentially, we’re going through a number of different novels in a fast amount of time so that we can judge what’s universal about the genre. For instance, in romance, you’ll have Boy meeting Girl, them feeling an instant attraction, something getting in the way, them overcoming it, happily ever after.
Pride and Prejudice follows this plot. So does the next forgettable Hollywood Rom-Com.
With crime, there’ll be a sense of mystery. A hideous crime. A range of suspects. A flawed detective. A piece of evidence that turns up curiously close to 80% of the way through the book, and then a closing section which raises the stakes and tension.
Agatha Christie used this structure, so does the next Hollywood Crime Thriller.
Added to that, you’ll find some weird things that occur every so often. In romance, it’s the dreaded-but-alluring third-party tempter/temptress, and in crime it’ll be the “start at the tension point and then recall the points leading to it.”
Once you’ve done this, go on to the second stage.
Pick One Awesome Book, Eat it Alive
Now we have a general feel, it’s time to get into the specifics.
Pick a classic from your genre, or at least a good example of what you want to achieve.
Go through this book like you’re a forensic scientist. Take a look at the very first chapter of the book. What does it do?
If it sets the scene, how does it do that?
If it introduces your protagonist, how much does it reveal about them?
Go through the various stages. You have your sections from before – say, you’re talking about a crime story and the characters have just realised a crime has been committed. Now think about how those sections come to pass. Does one character tell the others or do they all simultaneously see the result? Where is your protagonist at this point and what is their frame of mind? How does this section give away what’s coming, and what does it hide/obfuscate?
What type of adjectives are used?
What type of names, locations are there?
How long are the chapters? Both in terms of how long they are “in the world” and how long they are in terms of word count.
How many chapters are there? Why are there that many?
I could go on forever with this list, but I won’t. You get the idea.
Pull the book apart until you know it better than the person who wrote it.
Final Thoughts
To recap, you need to follow two steps:
- Read a lot of books to get a feel for the genre.
- Read one book very deeply so you can understand mechanically how you achieve the style you’ve made note of above.
This sounds straightforward, and it is. It’s a lot of work, but reading fiction is fun and you’d probably be doing it anyway, and this process basically guarantees you’ll “know what to write” which is probably the biggest hurdle most would-be writers face, and it also guarantees you’ll know “how to write” in your genre of choosing.
Knowing how to write and what to write are all there is to writing fiction.